


I Swear I'm Not Like Them

by Zed777



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bryce is a condescending asshole, Bullying, Cyrus and Scott are underrated characters, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, Montgomery is an asshole, Season 2, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24788929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zed777/pseuds/Zed777
Summary: Scott Reed is a baseball player. And all baseball players are assholes. So why is he treating Cyrus in a very non-asshole way? And why does his presence seem to piss Cyrus off less and less?*************************(takes place during season 2 when Tyler is at the program after vandalizing the baseball field with Cyrus)
Relationships: Cyrus/Scott Reed
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

It was Cyrus’s first day back after getting suspended and naturally, the baseball team wasn’t too happy about what he and Tyler did. Tyler was still at the program recommended to him by the principal, which is probably a good thing. Cyrus wasn’t sure how to handle seeing Tyler again. He was still mad about the fact that Tyler posted those photos and got him in trouble, but he probably shouldn’t have gotten Tyler into doing stuff like that in the first place. There were signs that Tyler wasn’t in the best mental state and Cyrus wished he noticed before it got to the point that Tyler had to get sent away. 

He had been getting dirty looks from kids like Monty and Bryce all day. It’s not anything he wasn’t used to, but it was definitely unsettling to know that he pissed off an entire team of athletes, all of which could easily kick his ass if they wanted too. Luckily Cyrus had his friends by his side all day and it’s much easier to respond to the dirty looks with a middle finger when you’ve got a group of people to back you up. But now he was alone. Cyrus had to go back to his gym locker to get his clothes because his dad reminded him to bring them back or they wouldn’t get washed until next week. Most of the school was cleared out or at practice. Now he was heading to the library to wait until his dad got out of work to pick him up. Mackenzie had been home, sick, for the past few days but even if she hadn’t been, she probably wouldn’t have to wait with Cyrus anyway. She’s been spending most of her time after school with Eric, which is fine, Cyrus was just annoyed he had to wait by himself now. Their dad didn’t get out of work until late and he was gonna get sick of waiting alone real fast. Besides, being in a group has kept the baseball players from confronting him about the stunt he pulled with Tyler, but now he was by himself.

“Hey!”

 _Speak of the Devil._ Cyrus turned around to find Monty and a few other kids from the baseball team. _They must have just gotten out of practice,_ he thought. 

“What’ve you got in the bag, buddy?” Bryce was now alarmingly close and was leaning on the lockers next to him. 

“More spray paint?” Monty asked

“Or lighter fluid?” one of the others chimed in. Cyrus didn’t recognize him. Well, he recognized him by the fact that he was a baseball player who hung out with Bryce, but beyond that, Cyrus didn’t know anything about him. He considered running, but he knew they were faster, besides, he’s never been one to walk away from confrontation. 

“Gym clothes. Wanna whiff? It’ll probably get you higher than whatever the fuck you’ve got in your bag.”

Monty scoffed, “heh, yeah, let’s see about that.”

Suddenly there was a hand on hand grabbing at his backpack and Cyrus quickly regretted only wearing it over one shoulder because it was easily snatched off his back and now Monty was unzipping it. 

“Hey-!” Cyrus was cut off by Bryce pushing him back into the lockers with a firm and on his chest.

“Calm down man, we just wanna look. If there’s nothing to hide, it shouldn’t matter. Right?”

“Get your fucking hand off me.” Cyrus shoved Bryce’s hand away and turned back to Monty.

“And give my fucking backpack back now”

Monty just laughed and tucked the backpack under his arm. 

“Well, you can always try to take it.”

Cyrus lunged for the backpack but Monty stepped out of the way in time. The others all laughed at Monty’s antics but Cyrus just wanted to get his fucking backpack back and get the fuck out of this hallway, surrounded by the jocks that hate him. He made a second attempt to grab the backpack, but this time Monty lifted the bag and slammed it into Cyrus’s face, causing him to stumble back a few steps before falling on his ass against the lockers. Bryce and the others laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world and Monty just stared down at him, grinning. Cyrus put his hand to his nose and wasn’t too surprised when it came back bloody.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?”

Two other kids were walking down the hall. The one who spoke, Cyrus recognized as Zach Dempsy and the one trailing a few steps behind him was Scott Reed, who he shared a few classes with. _More baseball players. Great._

“Dude, what the fuck?” Zach was talking to Monty while Scott stayed a few feet away from the whole thing. 

“Calm down, Dempsey,” Bryce finally pushed himself off the lockers, “we were just having a little talk. Making sure he wasn’t gonna keep fucking with us. Right?” He turned to face Cyrus, who responded with a _fuck you._

“Alright, look,” Zach started, clearly trying to mediate the situation, “just give the kid his bag back and let’s go. If Bolan or Porter catch you pulling this shit, it’s only gonna get a hell of a lot worse for us.”

Monty rolled his eyes and said “fine” before throwing the backpack back at Cyrus, who was still on the ground, at full force. Cyrus’s hands shot up to keep it from hitting him in the face again but the bag just slammed into the lockers next to him and spilled all over the floor since Monty never bothered to rezip it after going through his stuff. When he looked up again, Bryce, Zach, Monty, and the others were making their way down the hall and towards the exit to the school. Just before they were about to make it to the door, Scott stopped them.

“Hold up guys, I left my Phycology textbook in my locker and I’ve got a big test tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Bryce nodded, “do you want us to wait for you or…”

“No, its cool, I’ll meet be at your place tonight.”

“Okay, see you then, brother.” With that, Bryce and the others walked out the doors. Scott watched them for a few seconds before turning around and walking back down the hallway. He paused by Cyrus who was still repacking his backpack.

“Hey man, you alright?” He put a hand on Cyrus’s shoulder but immediately pulled back when he felt the shorter boy tense. “Here, lemme help.” Scott crouched down to help him pick up some of the notebooks and papers. After handing them back to Cyrus, who wordlessly accepted them and shoved them into his backpack, he stood and offered a hand to help the other up. Cyrus ignored the extended hand, stood up on his own, and brushed past the baseball player.

“Wait!” Scott ran in front of him to block his way. Cyrus just raised an eyebrow at him and silently told Scott to get the fuck out of his way. 

Scott started rummaging through his backpack, “hold on, just let me, uh… Got it!” He pulled out a pack of tissues and held it out to Cyrus. He looked at the baseball player blankly.

“For your uh…” Scott gestured at his nose

 _Oh, right, my nose is bleeding._ Cyrus considered just walking away but he didn’t want to get blood on his jacket so he reluctantly took the tissue pack and held one to his nose. He started to walk away again but Scott followed after him and started walking next to him. 

“So where are you going?”

“Library. Fucks it to you?”

“Just thought I’d hang with you for a bit.”

Cyrus stopped and faced Scott, “And why the fuck would you do that?”

“I don’t know, I feel kinda bad about what happened and what I told Bryce wasn’t a complete lie, there is a Phycology test tomorrow but I don’t think a textbook is gonna be enough to help me and I saw you get like all As in that class so I thought…”

“How the fuck would you know what my grades are. I don’t sit anywhere near you.”

“I-uh, when I was helping you pick up those papers earlier, uh, some of them were quizzes and shit from that class.”

“So you looked through my shit.”

“Well, I mean, not on purpose but-”

Cyrus cut him off with a scoff and continued to walk toward the library, ignoring Scott, who continued to follow him. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Cyrus spend the afternoon in the library.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Um… sitting?”

Scott had followed Cyrus into the library and was now taking the seat across from him. 

“Sit somewhere else, that seat’s taken.”

“By who? Your imaginary friend?” Scott asked sarcastically, still refusing to get up.

“If I said yes would you fuck off?”

“Probably not.”

Cyrus just glared at him in response and started to get up to find a different seat, but Scott grabbed his arm before he had the chance to stand up all the way.

“C’mon man, I really could use your help with Psychology. I’ll even pay you or something.” He started rummaging through his pockets, presumably looking for his wallet. 

Cyrus sighed and sat back down. Helping Scott out didn’t seem like the worst way to spend his time. It’s better than sitting by himself for a few hours before his dad got there at least. Besides, Scott didn’t seem like the biggest asshole, even if he does hang around Bryce and Monty. He figured the baseball player wasn’t going to leave him alone anyway, so he might as well help him, and if he really is that bad, at least Cyrus will get the chance to make fun of him. 

“Keep your fucking money. Just give me your notebook and tests and shit,” he said, pulling the tissue away from his nose when he noticed it stopped bleeding.

“Why do you need to see my tests,” Scott chuckled nervously.

“So I can see how badly you’re failing and what parts you’re failing the worst at.”

“...Can’t you just go over everything?”

“I’m not wasting my time going over stuff you already know. You wanted my help. If you make this harder for me then it has to be, I’m leaving.”

“Alright, Alright, geez, I’ll get it.” He fished a few papers out of his backpack and handed them to Cyrus, asking him to smooth them out while he fished around for his notebook. Cyrus read over a few of the recent tests and quizzes and noted that none of them seemed to be higher than the low seventies. 

“Jesus, you were right.” He looked up at Scott, who just pulled out a blue notebook, which looked like it had seen better days. “How the fuck did you even make it into the honors class?”

“I took the CP class last year, and Mr. Sullivan is one of those teachers who uses the same tests and shit every year, so Bryce got his friend from the grade above me to give me all his old tests to study from. The teacher moved me up to honors this year and unfortunately, Ms. Garcia uses new tests every year, so now I’m screwed.”

“So, you cheated your way to the top and now it’s biting you in the ass. Remind me again why I should help you?”

“...so I won’t  _ have  _ to cheat anymore?”

Cyrus just narrowed his eyes at the other boy before picking up the notebook and flipping through the first few pages.

“Well, first you might want to learn how to  _ spell  _ psychology.”

“What do you mean? How did I spell it?”

Cyrus just held up the notebook and pointed at the word scribbled on the cover:  _ PHYCOLOGY.  _ Scott just stared at him blankly.

“It that… not how you spell it?”

“Its ‘P-S-Y-C-H’ not ‘P-H-Y-C’. Phycology is the study of algae.”

“...oh.”

Cyrus flipped through the rest of the notebook and read over a few more tests before putting the papers back down and groaning.

“You’re telling me that the teacher still hasn’t noticed that you clearly don’t belong in the advanced class.”

“Hey! I wasn’t failing this badly the whole year. This unit is just really fucking confusing.”

We’re learning about psychological disorders. This is probably the most interesting and easiest to pay attention to class all year. Are you honestly saying that you did well in the Anatomy and Nervous System unit at the beginning of the year but you’re failing this one.” 

“I didn’t have baseball season taking up my time then.”

“Have you considered that passing your classes is a little more important than chucking a ball at a guy holding a stick.”

Scott just snorted, “That’s a really oversimplified description of baseball.”

Cyrus shrugged. He was about to make another comment regarding his distaste for the sport but the latest quiz caught his eye.

“How the fuck did you fail the quiz on personality disorders? We spent like a month on it and we had to present our projects on it the day before. You got almost every question wrong except for the ones on… borderline personality disorder.”

“That’s ‘cause you did your project on borderline and you did a really good job explaining it.”

Cyrus definitely did not feel his cheeks heat up at the compliment. Why the fuck would that happen. Scott is a baseball player and Cyrus can’t fucking stand the baseball team.

“Thanks, you sucked at explaining yours.”

“Hey!” Scott shouted, but he didn’t seem too offended. 

“What? It’s true. You did anti-social personality disorder, right? I swear you spent half the presentation just describing the Joker.”

“Well, he has it, doesn’t he?”

“Not everyone with AsPD is a psychopath and your main source of research shouldn’t be Batman comics.”

“I haven’t read the comics. I’ve just seen the movies.”

“That’s worse.”

“Precisely why I need your help.”

Cyrus let out an exaggerated sigh and pulled out his notebook since he couldn’t count on Scott’s to be accurate… or legible. He opened the notebook and textbook to the first page of the unit and started at the beginning. 

“Alright, first you gotta know the difference between ego-dystonic and ego-syntonic disorders.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The two of them stayed in the library until Cyrus was sure Scott understood enough to at least pass the test tomorrow. Well, Cyrus stayed in the Library. Scott got up about every twenty minutes to get more food from the vending machine. It was annoying at first but once Scott started bringing back a pack of sour patch kids for Cyrus each time, he stopped caring. Now Scott was packing up his stuff and getting ready to leave.

“Are you gonna get ready to go too?”

Cyrus sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Nah, I’ve gotta wait till my dad gets here.”

“It’s already almost six, what time does he usually get here?”

“I dunno, six-thirty if I’m lucky.”

“Do you want me to wait with you?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes, “No. I’m sure you’ve got other shit to do. Didn’t you say you were going to Bryce’s place or some shit?”

“I go to Bryce’s all the time, I don’t think the team will care if I blow them off.” Scott grabbed Cyrus’s jacket and pulled him out of the chair. “C’mon, grab your backpack. Let’s go to that diner- what’s it called? Rosie’s? I’m starving.”

Cyrus took a second to recover from being yanked out of his chair so suddenly before he brushed off Scott’s hand and gestured to all the wrappers still on the table. “How the fuck can you still be hungry. You ate half the fucking vending machine.”

“I dunno,” Scott shrugged, “athlete metabolism. You’d understand if you were on the baseball team. Or just about any sports team.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”  
“On joining a team or going to Rosie’s?”

“Both.”

“C’mon,” the baseball player whined, “you wouldn’t let me pay you for helping me study, the least I could do is get you a burger or something. Would you really rather wait here by yourself.”

Cyrus thought for a minute. Going to a diner with one of the baseball players seemed like the worst way to spend his evening. One of Scott’s friends gave him a bloody nose just a few hours ago. On the other hand, he was getting a little hungry for something other than sour patch kids and Scott wasn’t the worst company in the world. He was an idiot, but Cyrus would be lying if he said the baseball player’s stupidity didn’t genuinely amuse him at times. And overall, he wasn’t nearly as much as a douchebag as Bryce or Monty. 

Cyrus slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Fine.”

Scott grinned and led the shorter boy out of the library. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Cyrus go to Rosie's and Scott thinks about how he's going to hide his newfound friendship from the baseball team.

Cyrus only ordered a burger and a soda, not wanting the other boy to have to spend too much money. Scott didn’t seem to have the same qualms. He ordered two burgers, fries, a milkshake, and another milkshake for Cyrus when he noticed him eyeing Scott’s. 

“So, do you wait at school that long every day?” 

“Usually, sometimes I get a ride home with a friend.”

“Why don’t you just walk home? That’s what I do.”

“Well, we don’t all live within walking distance of the school.”

“I mean,” Scott paused to start his second burger, “you could always hang at my place after school if you need to.”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “Before today, all I knew about you is that you play baseball and don’t know how to research a fucking project properly.”

“Okay, rude, and I’m serious. You can come to my place after school and help me out with psychology or something.”

“So you want a tutor? I think the school can set you up with one. There are plenty of students much more willing to do it that I am.”

“Alright, well I’m not asking other students right now. I’m asking you, so will you do it or not?”

Cyrus scoffed and leaned back in his chair. “You know what,” he said with a sarcastic smile, “why the fuck not?”

“Awesome, so we can walk to my place after school or after my practi-” Scott was cut off when a punk song started blaring from Cyrus’s phone. 

“Shit, it’s my dad. I forgot to tell him I wasn’t at school anymore.”

Scott just started laughing, “Dude,  _ that’s  _ your ringtone?” 

Scott could have sworn he saw Cyrus’s face heat up before he stood up. 

“Fuck off, I’ve gotta take this.” He stood a few tables away and leaned against an empty booth before answering the phone. Scott watched the other boy, a little lost in thought.

If this morning, you told Scott he’d be at a diner with the emo kid from his psych class, he would’ve thought you were fucking insane. The kid vandalized the baseball field and called him and all his teammates rapists. He should hate him the same way his teammates do, but after seeing him on the ground with a bloody nose and Monty standing over him like a fucking psychopath, he couldn’t help but think that maybe the spray paint was a little deserved. At least for some of the players on the team. Scott and several others shouldn’t automatically get labeled as an ‘asshole’ or a ‘rapist’ just because they like to play baseball. Since when has being athletic been a crime? 

Honestly, Scott isn’t really sure why he helped Cyrus out earlier. It wouldn’t have been the first time he walked away after seeing Monty or Bryce treat some kid like crap, and at least they had a reason to be pissed at Cyrus. Maybe its cause Scott always had a little respect for the other boy. He was short and relatively skinny but still had no problems starting fights with kids on the football team. He was also wicked smart if his psychology grades were any indication. 

Scott was snapped out of his thoughts when Cyrus slid back into the booth and chuckled. “You alright, dude? You were staring at that fry pretty intensely.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”

Cyrus grinned, “Didn’t think any of you athletes were capable of it. Good to know I won’t be completely wasting my time tutoring you.”

“Good to know you have such faith in me,” Scott responded and threw one of his crumpled napkins at Cyrus’s face, who just laughed.

“All the faith in the world couldn’t help your class average now, my friend.”

Scott rolled his eyes at the comment, but couldn’t help feeling happy at the word “friend,” considering just a few hours ago, Cyrus couldn’t have made it more clear that he hated his guts. Just then, the bell over the door rang, signaling someone walking in.

“Cyrus?”

The boy in question turned around in his seat to face his dad. 

“Hey, Dad.” He started to grab his stuff and slid out of the booth. Scott left a tip on the table and also got up.

“You must be Scott,” the man said and held out his hand.

“Yeah, that’s me. Nice to meet you Mr…” It occurred to Scott that he never learned Cyrus’s last name.

“Cass.” Cyrus supplied.

“Cass,” Scott repeated, nodding. 

“You need a ride home, Scott?” Mr. Cass asked while taking his son’s backpack for him. 

“No thanks, sir, I’m okay walking.”

“Are you sure? Its really not a problem. It’s the least I could do after you waited with Cyrus for so long.”

“No, really I’m fine. I have to pick something up for my parents on my way home anyway.”

“Alright,” Mr. Cass nodded, “Well, thanks again for waiting with Cyrus.”

“Yeah, and for the burger.” Cyrus chimed in.

“Thanks again for tutoring me,” Scott smiled.

Cyrus nodded and followed his dad out of the diner. Scott stood there grinning for a few moments before the woman at the register cleared her throat.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Scott grabbed the check and his wallet to pay. 

“First date?” the woman said, raising an eyebrow.

Scott spluttered for a moment, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. “It- uh- It wasn’t a date,” he replied, chuckling.

“Oh, sorry, my bad,” the woman said, but the eyebrow raise and grin on her face made it clear that she didn’t believe him.

Scott left the diner and picked up the prescription his parents asked him to. On his walk home, he started thinking about how he was gonna handle having Cyrus over after school from now on. He wanted to hang out with him more but he wasn’t sure how he was gonna hide that from his team. Today he could tell them he had to study for psychology and that’s why he blew them off, but that excuse only works so many times and they’d eventually notice if Cyrus walks home with him. He could tell them that he needed a tutor and the school paired him with Cyrus. Scott decided that’s his best bet and would go with that excuse if they pick up on it. He also decided that if he saw Monty or Bryce giving Cyrus shit again, he wouldn’t let Zach be the only one to tell them to fuck off. At least he hopes he will. He’d never been one for sticking up to either of them before, even when he knew what they were doing was fucked up.

When Scott got home, he dropped the prescription on the kitchen counter. His parents were out for a date night so they wouldn’t be home until late. He checked his phone and found a few texts from Bryce and a few others on the team, asking where he was. He sent Bryce a reply, saying that he had to study for the test tomorrow. 

Cyrus had helped him a lot today and he felt pretty confident he would pass tomorrow, so he figured he could spend the rest of the night watching something on TV.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The next morning, was mostly uneventful. Scott got to school and met up with a few of his friends. Monty acted like an idiot while simultaneously kissing Bryce’s ass, but Scott didn’t care cause it gave him something to make fun of him for. Most of Scott’s classes were boring, but he did start paying a little closer attention to Cyrus during the classes they shared. Scott had no idea how the raven-haired kid had such good grades considering he could count the number of times he actually looked at the teacher on one hand. He spent the majority of class sketching something in the back of his notebook or with his head resting in his arms, looking asleep. Scott doubted that Cyrus was actually asleep though because whenever the teacher called on him and asked him to repeat whatever she last said, thinking she’d caught him, he’d give a near-perfect reiteration of whatever she’d been talking about, then put his head right back down on the desk. 

At the end of the day, Scott made sure all his friends have left before approaching Cyrus, who was at his locker, trying to shove books in his backpack when they clearly wouldn’t fit. 

“I think you’re gonna have to carry those separately.”

Apparently startled by Scott’s appearance, Cyrus jumped and nearly dropped the textbooks he was holding. 

“No way, this is gonna fit, I just need to rearrange some stuff”

Scott watched in amusement as Cyrus shuffled books around in his backpack and threw crumpled up pieces of paper into his locker until he was finally able to get the book in. After struggling with the zipper for a while, he decided to just leave his bag half open and slung it over his shoulder with a triumphant smile on his face.  _ Cute,  _ the baseball player thought before shaking his head,  _ where the fuck did that thought come from. _

“Told ya.”

“So you did,” Scott agreed, “Ready to go?” Cyrus looked startled for a moment as if he were surprised Scott was serious about his offer yesterday.  _ Did he think I was joking? _

“Uh, don’t you have baseball practice or something?”

“Today’s an off day. Tomorrow, I can meet you in the library after practice and we can walk to my place then.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Sounds good. Lead the way then,” he said, gesturing to the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus and Scott go to Scott's house for the afternoon and Scott gets a little concerned.

“I thought you live nearby, how much longer is this gonna take?” This was the third time so far that Cyrus started complaining about the length of the walk to Scott’s house.

“First of all, I never said I live close-”

“You said you walk to and from school every day, I think that kind of implies you live close.”

“ _ Second of all,”  _ Scott continued, pretending to not have heard Cyrus, “I don’t live that far, you just have no stamina.”

“This has nothing to do with my stamina, you just don’t know what’s considered a walkable distance while carrying a backpack full of textbooks.”

“You want me to carry it for you?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “I think I’ll manage.”

“Then stop complaining and pick up the pace. The sooner we get there the sooner I’ll get to stop listening to your whining.”

Cyrus just shot him an unimpressed look and kept walking. When they got to Scott’s front door, the baseball player started fumbling around in the front pocket of his backpack for house keys. “My parents are still at work but they should be home around four.” When he didn’t get a reply he turned to look at the other boy, who was staring, unfocused, at the front door and seemingly out of breath, though he was trying to hide it. “Hey, man, you alright?” Scott put a hand on Cyrus’s shoulder, which seemed to snap him out of it.

“What-yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure? Look, if the walk really is too long, we can just study at the school library from now on.”

“It’s fine. We don’t need to study at the school, I’m fine with walking.”

“Alright,” Scott said, unlocking the door and opening it, “Well, come on in then.”

The two entered the house and Scott immediately kicked off his shoes. “I’m gonna grab some food from the kitchen. You can leave your shoes and jacket by the door and then we’ll head up to my room. Sound good?” Cyrus responded with a thumbs up and watched the other boy walk into the next room. He took off his shoes and jacket, leaving his shoes by the door but tying his jacket around his waist instead. On his way to following Scott into the kitchen, he glanced around the living room. The house wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t necessarily small either. It was comfortable, which did make the TV look out of place considering it looked like something you’d see at the Walker’s house, not a middle-class home two blocks away from a Seven-Eleven. Cyrus walked into the kitchen and found Scott riffling around in the fridge. He already had chips, Oreos, popcorn, four Cliff bars, and a bag of skittles sitting on the counter. 

“What flavor do you like?” Cyrus looked up to find Scott holding five different colors of Gatorade. 

“I dunno,” Cyrus shrugged, “never had it.”

“Seriously? You’ve never had Gatorade?” Cyrus shrugged again. Scott just shook his head and kicked the refrigerator door shut. “Well, I guess we’re just gonna have to bring them all so you can try all of them,” he said, tucking the other bags of food under his arm. 

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The two settled in Scott’s room. Cyrus sat in the desk chair and Scott sat on the bed. They pulled out their psychology books but since they had the test that day, there wasn’t much to go over so most of their conversation involved making fun of Scott for his awful grades in psych, which led to making fun of Scott for his performance in every class he has with Cyrus.

“You’re one to talk,” Scott responded after Cyrus made a comment about the fact that Scott always comes into History class looking like he just smoked six lines of coke, “you’re always spaced out during class. Either that or you’re doodling in your notebook.” Scott grabbed Cyrus’s notebook off the desk. “What do you draw in here anyway.”

“Hey! What the fuck, dude? Don’t go through my shit,” Cyrus tried to grab his notebook back but Scott held it away from him and flipped to the back of the book.

“Holy shit, man, these are really fucking good!” Most of the drawings were sketches of Cyrus’s friends or the classroom he was in and everyone in it. “Jesus, you should have taken an art elective or something.”

Cyrus ignored him in favor of making another attempt to grab his notebook back, only to have Scott push him back slightly as he kept flipping through the drawings. He seemed to be getting more and more panicked the further into his notebook he got. Scott was about to ask him what it was Cyrus didn’t want him to see, assuming it would be a drawing of some girl from their class topless or something but it was too late… he found it.

It was a pen sketch of that night at the baseball field, with the sidelines covered in spray paint and the word ‘rapists’ burning on the field. Both of them froze, Scott staring at the page and Cyrus’s gaze flickering from Scott to the page to his feet. Eventually, Cyrus snatched the book back and this time, Scott made no move to stop him. He sat back down in the desk chair and stuffed his notebook into his backpack. They sat quietly for a while, neither one looking at each other before Scott broke the silence with a question he’d been wanting to ask for a while.

“Why’d you do it?”

Cyrus didn’t respond; he kept his eyes trained on the carpet.

“I mean, I could understand if it was like Jessica or even that kid Clay but-”

“Do I really need a reason to think it’s fucked up to be a rapist”

“Well, no, but-”

“I did it ‘cause I know what it’s like to have people treat you like shit but nothing ever happens to them because everyone, including the faculty, fucking loves them. And ‘cause everyone deserved to see the truth.”

“Do you really think that’s the truth about everyone on the team though? Do you think  _ I’m  _ like that?”

Cyrus didn’t respond for a few seconds. Then he finally lifted his eyes to meet Scott’s gaze. “No.”

Scott was about to reply when there was a knock on his bedroom door, scaring the shit out of both of them. 

“Come in!” Scott called. The door opened and two women stepped into the room. One had long brown hair and the other had short blonde hair. They were relatively the same height but the brunette was slightly taller. 

“You must be Cyrus,” the blonde woman said, smiling, “Our son’s told us a lot about you.”

Cyrus smirked and looking back at Scott, “We’ve never said a word to each other before yesterday,” he said, seemingly letting all the tension of their previous conversation disappear. 

“Well that seemed to be enough for Scott to ramble on for about two hours last night,” the brunette chimed in.

“Mom!” Scott yelled, feeling heat rise to his face.

“Anyway,” the brunette chuckled, “We brought home pizza. Why don’t you boys take a break and come eat with us?”

“Sure,” Cyrus nodded and followed Scott’s mom’s to the bedroom door, pausing when he noticed Scott still hadn’t gotten up. He raised an eyebrow. “You coming?” his expression was casual when he asked that but Scott could see the underlining anxiety.  _ He’s probably still nervous about our conversation just now.  _

“Yeah,” he said, scrambling off the bed, “yeah, I’m coming,” he replied, smiling.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The dinner went well. Mostly because Scott’s moms (who insisted on Cyrus calling them Dani (brunette) and Alex (blonde)) shared Cyrus’s enjoyment of making fun of Scott. Now the boys were back in Scott’s room, playing videogames.

“Jesus, man, stop cheating!” Scott whined falling backward from his seat on the floor. 

Cyrus, who was sitting next to him just laughed, “I’m not cheating, you just suck”

“You’re lying! What’d you do when I went to the bathroom earlier? You probably rewired the console or something.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes, “Even if I knew how to do that to make myself win, I wouldn’t have to. You still suck. Half the time, I didn’t even try to win; you somehow figured out how to drive your car off the tracks.”

Scott only beat Cyrus once that day, and he wasn’t too focused on the videogame when it happened. Cyrus was about to won for what was probably the seventieth time when his right hand started twitching.  _ Not twitching,  _ Scott thought,  _ spasming.  _ It caused Cyrus to drop the controller with a “fuck”. Scott’s car finished, but he wasn’t paying attention anymore, having already put his controller down to see if Cyrus was okay. His left hand was clutching his right wrist and his right hand was clenched in a fist.

“Dude, are you, okay, what’s happening?” Cyrus didn’t respond, he just kept focusing on his hand, trying to will it to stop shaking. “Cyrus?”

Cyrus finally let out the breath he apparently had been holding and released his right hand, which seemed to have stopped shaking. “Yeah, Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What was that?”

Cyrus looked up at Scott and laughed a little bit, “I have no idea,” he glanced down at his hand again, “It’s fine now though”

“Does that happen often? My moms are physicians, should I get them to check your hand? There might be something wr-”

“Scott,” Cyrus cut him off with a reassuring smile, which Scott wasn’t too convinced of, “I’m fine. Seriously. Now come on, I want a rematch. We’re not counting that last round.”

Scott reluctantly shifted back to his original spot on the floor so he wasn’t hovering over Cyrus anymore. He didn’t want to drop the subject but he could tell he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the other boy. 

Later that night, after Cyrus’s dad came to pick him up, Scott couldn’t stop thinking about Cyrus’s hand spasm earlier and the way he seemed to brush it off, as if it was a usual occurrence. Then his mind drifted to when they first arrived at the house. Cyrus was way too tired for a twenty-minute walk and he seemed really out of it when they got to the door. That wasn’t...normal. Was it?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Cyrus have a run-in with Bryce and Monty.

“Ugh, this lesson suuucks! Why is every word that Ms. Garcia says at least six syllables?” 

“Probably cause most kids in the class know vocabulary beyond kindergarten sight words.”

Cyrus and Scott just left the school to go to Scott’s house. They’d been spending most days after school there for a week. Scott has been trying to work up the nerve to ask about Cyrus’s muscle spasm last week, but it hadn’t happened again so he figured maybe Cyrus was telling the truth about it being a one-time thing. 

“Okay, rude, and that’s not the point I’m just saying that we just had a difficult lesson, they should give us an easy one now.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes and put his hand on Scott’s shoulder as they made their way out of the school parking lot. “I am so sorry that the honors class you cheated your way into is now too difficult for you.”

Scott scoffed and was about to respond when an arm was slung around both their shoulders, “What the fuck is going on here,” Bryce said in a friendly tone as he stepped in between them. 

“Get your fucking hands off me,” Cyrus sneered. Bryce laughed and tightened his hold before letting go of both of them. 

“You rushed out of practice so fast I didn’t get a chance to tell you I’m having a party on Saturday since my folks will be out of town for the weekend. 

“Now we know  _ why  _ you left so quickly,” Monty chimed in, leering at Cyrus, who gave him the middle finger in return. 

“Yeah, Cyrus has been tutoring me in Psych, I need to pass to play baseball.”

“You couldn’t have asked the school for someone who  _ didn’t  _ destroy our fucking field,” Monty asked, gesturing in the vague direction of the field. 

“He’s at the top of our class and I’ve been doing a lot better since he started helping me out.”

“I’ve got family friends in college who study psychology,” Bryce offered with fake sympathy, “I’m sure I could get them to help you study instead.”  
“Yeah, but Cyrus-”

“ _ Cyrus  _ is gonna deck all three of you if you keep talking about him like he isn’t two feet away from you.” Cyrus cut in. 

Scott offered an apologetic look before finishing, “I can’t afford to pay for a tutor and he’s doing it for free.”

“And why would he do that?” Monty asked while he leaned on Cyrus’s shoulder, and was promptly shoved off.

“He uh-”

“ _ He  _ was forced into it by the school for ‘destroying your fucking field,” Cyrus lied, “Now if you excuse us, I’m only obligated to deal with one douchebag, not three.” He turned around to keep walking but was stopped when Monty grabbed onto his forearm and yanked him back.

“Woah woah, we aren’t done here yet, tiny.”

Scott saw Cyrus wince at the grip on his arm and panicked; the last thing he wanted was for things to get physical. 

“Monty, come on, man, let go of him. If a teacher sees you they’re gonna freak out. You know Bolan has been breathing down our necks for a while now.”

Bryce sighed dramatically and put a hand on Monty’s shoulder. “Let the kid go, Monty.” Monty reluctantly released his death grip on Cyrus’s arm, but not without shoving him down after. “Oh, and Scotty,” Bryce said, turning to address Scott, “I never got an answer about Saturday.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course I’ll be there.”

“Great, see you tomorrow then brother.” Bryce spared one last glance at Cyrus, who was picking himself up off the ground, before heading back towards his car, Monty following after him. As soon as they were out of earshot, Scott rushed to Cyrus to make sure he was okay.

“A-are you alright, man? Shit! You’re bleeding!” Scott panicked when he noticed the cuts on Cyrus’s palms and elbows. 

“Dude, Scott, calm down,” Cyrus said, brushing the dirt off his pants, “I’m just happy I didn’t put my jacket on or the leather would have gotten scuffed.” 

“Shit, Cyrus, I’m sorry. I should’ve-”

“Scott. I’m fine. Seriously. That could’ve gone a lot worse.”

“Could’ve gone a lot better too,” Scott mumbled.

Cyrus shrugged, “Whatever, man. Let’s just go.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

When the two of them got to Scott’s house, the baseball player immediately brought Cyrus to the bathroom to disinfect his cuts. Cyrus sat on the toilet seat while Scott kneeled in front of him with the bottle of rubbing alcohol.

“I can do it myself you know,” Cyrus said when Scott finished his elbows and moved on to his palms. 

“I know, but its easier if I do it.” Scott held onto Cyrus’s wrist as he dabbed the cotton ball on his palm. If the alcohol stung, Cyrus didn’t show it. Scott still felt guilty about the whole thing. He should have stopped Monty before he got physical. He should have told both of them to fuck off sooner. He should have defended Cyrus more than he did-

“You okay, dude?” Cyrus asked, breaking his train of thought. Scott realized he had finished disinfecting the cut but was still holding onto Cyrus’s wrist. 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” he said, slightly blushing. He was about to let go of his wrist when he noticed the bruises forming on his forearm. Instead of letting go, he pulled Cyrus’s arm closer to inspect the bruises. “Shit, are those from Monty. Fuck, man, I should have told him to let go.”

“You did tell him. And he did let go. It’s just a bruise, Scott, I’m fine. Now come on,” Cyrus said, standing up, “I’m fucking starving.”

Scott grinned, relieved the shorter boy wasn’t mad at him for anything.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

  
  


The next day, Cyrus didn’t look so good. He was dragging his feet most of the day and Scott could tell that the dark part under his eyes wasn’t just eyeshadow this time. The biggest tell something was wrong was during last period history class. Cyrus had his head down on his desk like he almost always does in that class since he sits in the back and that teacher is oblivious to everything that happens beyond the second row of desks. This time though, when the bell rang and everyone cleared out of the classroom (including the teacher), eager to get home for the weekend, Cyrus didn’t move. Scott didn’t think he’d ever seen Cyrus  _ actually  _ fall asleep during class, but considering he didn’t react at all when the bell rang and all the students shuffled out of the classroom, Scott thought it was pretty safe to say this time, he was sleeping. 

Scott finished packing his backpack and walked over to Cyrus’s desk. “Cyrus?” he said, knocking on the boy’s desk a bit. Cyrus shifted a bit in his sleep and made a small noise, but didn’t wake up. Scott could see the other boy’s face now. Even when he was sleeping, he still looked tired. Scott felt bad waking him up but he couldn’t exactly leave him in the classroom.

“Cyrus,” he said again, a bit louder and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him a bit. This time he groaned and woke up. He sat up and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Shit, did the bell ring?”

“Clearly,” Scott said, gesturing to the empty classroom, “You okay though, man, you look really tired.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Cyrus replied stretching and grabbing his backpack, “Ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Scott followed Cyrus out of the classroom, choosing to drop the subject. He was just a little sleep-deprived anyway. He’ll probably be fine...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott doesn't know what to do

Cyrus was not fine.

When the boys first got to the house, Scott could already tell something was seriously wrong. He was more out of breath than usual after the walk there and he was constantly zoning out while they were walking and flinched whenever Scott put a hand on his shoulder to snap him out of it. When Scott brought it up, Cyrus brushed it off and chalked it up to him being tired. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that things went very wrong. They had been in Scott’s room, sitting across from each other on the bed with their books in between them when Scott noticed that Cyrus was starting to zone out again and he was looking more and more anxious. He had been tapping his foot against the bed all afternoon and now his hand joined in as well and his eyes weren’t focused on the book he was looking at. 

“Cyrus? You okay, man?”

“What?” Cyrus’s head snapped up, his eyes darting back and forth between Scott and the wall behind him. 

“I asked if you were okay. Why are you so anxious?”

Cyrus finally met Scott’s eyes but he didn’t seem any calmer than he did a second ago, “I’m not,” Cyrus defended as his foot tapping got faster, “I’m fine.”

“You really don’t look fine, Cy.” Scott reached for his phone, “maybe we should call your dad or something.”

Cyrus grabbed Scott’s wrist before he had a chance to unlock his phone. “You don’t fucking need to call my dad, I’m fine.” It clearly meant to come across as at least somewhat reassuring but was outweighed by the anxiety and exhaustion written all over his face. 

“I really think we should call him. You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine, really, I’m just- … Fuck!” Cyrus took a deep breath and put a hand over his ribs. He shifted so his back was against the wall and his other hand was twisting in the sheets. 

“Cyrus!? Are you all alright? Are you hurt?” Scott moved to Cyrus’s side, hovering and not sure what to do with his hands.

“I-I’m fine… I just need a minute…” His eyes were squeezed shut and he leaned his head back against the wall, trying to slow down his breathing.

Scott looked down at Cyrus’s hand, which was still placed firmly over his ribs. He put his hand over Cyrus’s, attempting to move it out of the way to see if he was hurt, but immediately retracted it when the other boy flinched and pressed himself more into the wall, his breathing speeding up again. Scott was starting to panic. He had plenty of experience treating injuries from when teammates would get hurt but he had no idea what to do when his friend was panicking to this extent and Scott didn’t even know what was wrong. 

“Cyrus? I need you to open your eyes, man. Alright? I need you to look at me.”

Cyrus reluctantly opened his eyes, which flickered around the room for a minute before settling on Scott.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“I-I... It’s not- I know it’s not… real-... but… but it just keeps  _ fucking happening” _ Cyrus closed his eyes again slammed his head back into the wall with a  _ thump  _ and Scott reached out to him, before pulling his hands back, remembering his reaction the last time he touched him. 

“Cyrus?” Scott called, trying to get the other boy to look at him again. It didn’t work. “Cyrus, what keeps happening?” The boy in question just shook his head, but even if he did want to respond, Scott doubted he would be able to given how fast he was breathing.

“Cyrus, I need you to try and slow your breathing. Can- Can I touch you?” Scott asked, his hands hovering near Cyrus’s shoulders. It took a minute, but eventually, Cyrus nodded and Scott gently pulled him away from the wall so he wouldn’t hit his head again. Almost immediately after the change in position, Cyrus collapsed against Scott’s chest, seemingly having passed out from hyperventilation. 

“C-Cyrus?” Scott said, gently nudging the other boy’s shoulder and getting no response. He wasn’t sure what to do so he just sat there for a minute with his arms around Cyrus, trying to slow down his own breathing. Eventually, he shifted so Cyrus could lie down while Scott slid off the bed to grab his phone, which had fallen on the ground during the commotion. He couldn’t contact Cyrus’s dad since he didn’t know his number so he called his moms instead. He checked the time; 4:00. They should have just gotten out of work now. While the phone was ringing, he remembered the way Cyrus was clutching his side. He leaned over the bed and gently tugged the corner of his shirt up. He didn’t have any injuries, but there was a jagged looking scar towards the bottom of his ribcage.  _ Phantom pain,  _ Scott had heard of that before,  _ but what could it have been from- _

“Scott?” The baseball player was snapped out of his thoughts by his mom’s voice on the phone. He let go of Cyrus’s shirt and took a step back from the bed to recollect himself.

“Hey, mom, there’s a bit of a problem.”

“What happened? We’re on our way home now. Are you and Cyrus alright?

“Well, I am- but Cyrus… I-I don’t know what happened but he started panicking and I tried to calm him down, but he passed out.” There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

“Scott, honey, where is Cyrus now?”

“I-I told you, he fainted. He’s on my bed right now.”

“Okay, we’ll be home in ten minutes, just stay with him until then.”

“Okay. Is he going to be alright?”

“I’m sure Cyrus will be fine. We’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

“Alright, see you soon.”

Scott hung up the phone and sighed. He pulled the desk chair closer to bed to sit down and waited with Cyrus until he heard the front door open. He heard footsteps coming down the hall and he turned around to face the door. His moms stepped into his room, both looking equally worried. Dani went over to Cyrus to check if he was okay and Alex rested a hand on Scott’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know what happened. I-”

“Hey, Scott, calm down. Okay?” Alex said, soothingly, as she kneeled in front of Scott’s chair. “It sounds like Cyrus had a panic attack. We called his dad and he said he’ll be here soon.”

“Aren’t panic attacks triggered by something?”

“They aren’t always.”

“But- but he was acting off all day, and he was really tired, and I should have noticed something, I-”

“Scott,” Alex cut him off firmly, “this is not your fault, okay.”

Scott didn’t feel any less guilty but he nodded, regardless.

There was a knock on the door and all three conscious people turned towards the sound. “That’s probably Mr. Cass,” Dani said and turned to Scott, “Mom and I will go downstairs to talk to him. You stay here with Cyrus.” Scott nodded and his moms smiled at him, ruffling his hair on their way out. 

Scott stayed with Cyrus for a few minutes, listening to the voices downstairs, before there was another knock on his door. His moms and Mr. Cass walked through the door. 

“Hey, Scott,” Mr. Cass greeted before walking to Cyrus’s side and sitting on the edge of the bed. He rested a hand on Cyrus’s shoulder and watched his son sleep, worriedly. 

“Mr. Cass?” Cyrus’s dad looked up at Scott.

“Please, Scott, call me Rick.” Scott nodded.

“Cyrus has a scar on his ribs and he was holding onto it like he was in pain. What was it from?”

Rick sighed and ran a hand over his face. “You saw that, huh?”

“He looked like he was in pain, so after he passed out I wanted to check if he was hurt.”

Cyrus’s dad nodded and turned to face Scott completely. “Do you remember when Cyrus transferred to Liberty?”

“Yeah… He came halfway through freshman year, right?”

“Well, he transferred because there was an… incident at his school before that.”

“That’s why he has that scar? Is that why his hand started shaking when we were playing video games too?”

“Yes. At Cyrus’s first school, he started getting bullied… severely. I wanted to take it up with the school, but Cyrus was convinced he could handle it. And I believed him.”

Scott glanced between Cyrus and his dad, “...what-what happened?”

Rick took a deep breath and started telling the story.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus's dad explains why Cyrus had to transfer to Liberty halfway through freshman year.

“Before Cyrus went to Liberty, he attended a private school in the next town over. I wasn’t sure about it at first. It was expensive and it’s not easy supporting two kids in California on just my paycheck; however, Cyrus ended up getting a scholarship and financial aid so I agreed to let him go. He was excited to go because the school had great computer science and robotics programs and that’s always been something he’s interested in. The school didn’t end up being what he’d hoped it would be though. He made friends with a few other kids who were in his robotics classes but he never really bonded with anyone there. A lot of kids were there for the sports teams and even the kids who were there for the ‘nerdier’ programs, didn’t have a lot in common with Cyrus outside of school. 

“To make things worse, he started to get picked on by some of the older kids, particularly, the ones on the hockey and football team. I started getting phone calls from the school more and more often saying that Cyrus had gotten into another fight. The school usually also told me that Cyrus was the one who started the fight, even though he always insisted to me that he didn’t. I told him that if the other kids are picking on him, we should take it up with the school, but he said it was fine and that talking with the principal wouldn’t help. He said he would deal with it on his own and I agreed to give him a chance. It seemed to work. I stopped getting calls from the school about fights, but Cyrus didn’t seem to be doing any better. He was still depressed and he would still come home some days with bruises. I tried to talk to him about it but he always told me he fell or got them in Phys Ed. 

“One day, towards the end of the first semester, Cyrus didn’t get home. He usually got home not long after his sister, but she had been home for a half-hour and there was still no sign of him. I figured he just missed the bus, so I called to ask if he needed a ride. It wouldn’t be the first time he missed the bus and whenever that happened, he had a tendency to walk home instead of calling me because he knew I was working for a promotion and he felt bad interrupting me when I brought work home. He didn’t answer his phone, so I started to get worried. I got my keys and started driving in the direction of the school to look for him. I drove about two blocks before my phone rang. It was the hospital. Apparently, six kids from the football team found Cyrus walking home. I never got the full story from Cyrus, but what I do know is that the other kids started a fight that escalated to the point where Cyrus ended up with a crushed wrist from someone stepping (or stomping) on it, two cracked ribs, and flip knife wedged into his side. That last part is when one of the football players apparently grew a conscience, decided they took it too far, and bolted to call 911. 

“All six kids were expelled and several of them faced criminal charges. After recovering in the hospital, Cyrus finished the last of the semester from home and I arranged for him to be transferred to Liberty. He started therapy again, with the same therapist he used to see after his mom and I split up and he did a lot better at Liberty. I know he still gets shit from some kids there, even if he tries to hide it, but this time, he’s made great friends here and I can tell he’s much happier. 

“Unfortunately, Cyrus never fully recovered from the assault. Mentally or physically. As you mentioned earlier, he gets muscle spasms in his right hand sometimes because of the nerve damage in his wrist. He’s also had pretty bad insomnia ever since, and on the nights that he gets nightmares, he doesn’t sleep much at all the next few nights out of fear of getting them again. And when he doesn’t sleep, he gets more and more anxious, which can lead to flashbacks of the attack, which can lead to panic attacks like the one he had today. Then the flashbacks and anxiety lead to more nightmares and more sleep deprivation. It’s a vicious cycle that can take weeks to break him out of once it starts.” 

Cyrus’s dad finished the story, and Scott remained silent, trying to process everything he just heard. Dani put a hand on Rick’s shoulder and smiled sympathetically, also probably at a loss for what to say. Luckily no one had to say anything because Cyrus started to wake up. 

“Shit,” he groaned as he sat up. 

“Cyrus, are you alright?” Rick asked, with a hand on his son’s shoulder to steady him.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Cyrus replied, rubbing a hand over his face. His Dad smiled sadly, seeing through the lie but accepting the fact that it was all he was going to get.

Cyrus was startled when he noticed Scott, Dani, and Alex in the room, remembering where he was. “Shit, shit, I’m sorry man,” he said, turning to Scott, “I didn’t mean to- I-I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. Shit-”

“Its fine Cyrus, really. Why would I be mad at you for that?” Cyrus averted his gaze to his lap to avoid eye contact. 

“Cyrus, how about you and I go home, alright? You look exhausted.” Cyrus nodded and moved to get off the bed. Scott rushed over to help Cyrus up but was brushed off with an  _ I’m fine.  _ Cyrus apologies again before leaving, this time it was directed at Scott’s moms. They both assured him he had nothing to apologize for and that they hope he feels better.

Scott couldn’t stop thinking about Cyrus’s panic attack and the reason behind it the rest of the weekend. He went to Bryce’s party on Saturday, hoping to get his mind off it, but that only lasted until the next morning when he woke up with a hangover and the need to text Cyrus to ask how he’s doing. He refrained from doing so though because he figured the Cyrus needed some space to recover. On Monday, Scott started paying extra close attention to Cyrus during class. He seemed just as exhausted as he did on Friday which wasn’t a good sign. At the end of the day, Scott found Cyrus at his locker and immediately asked if he was okay.

“I’m fine. Just a little tired,” he replied, swinging his backpack over his shoulder, “No baseball practice today?” he asked, changing the subject.

“It’s an off day,” It’s definitely not an off day, but this is more important and Scott doubts that his coach will care if he misses one practice. 

On the walk to Scott’s house, Cyrus is determined to keep the conversation away from what happened on Friday, deciding to instead focus on making fun of Scott’s grades some more. Scott was relieved to be able to slip back into their old dynamic but he knew they would have to talk about it eventually. As soon as they got to Scott’s room, he started thinking about ways to casually bring it up.  _ How the fuck do you bring something like that up casually. Maybe I should just ask him about it. Or is that too blunt? Why do I even need to know? It’s probably personal and he doesn’t even like to talk to his dad about it so I doubt he would talk to me about it anyway. But-”  _

Scott’s spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Cyrus’s sighing. “Alright, how much did my Dad tell you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to post another chapter. I got really busy with some stuff. (i.e. I had to go to an old friend's house multiple times even though I haven't seen said friend in years and it was really awkward but her parents didn't pick up on the fact that it was awkward so they kept inviting me to stay longer and do more stuff with them so I started coming up with excuses to leave early the night before I would go to their place but then I was invited to design and paint a beer pong table with her which took up multiple days that I couldn't back out of and no one in that family knows I'm non-binary and they're pretty conservative so I wasn't going to tell them so I had to deal with a bunch of comments asking when I was going to 'finally grow out of my tomboy phase' and other shit like that and the stressfulness of all that shit made me forget to write and post more chapters) Anyway, thank fuck that's over, and I can get back to posting more regularly.


End file.
